The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-03-27
THE LAST BUFFALO HUNT.
The Pursuit of the Pronghorn-Bring-
ing Down Two Antelope.
The True lnwardness of an Exploit-a Buck
ing Broncho and Dead Buck-The Ex-
termination Of the Antelope.

the Jungle"-Copyr ighted.
If You will promise not to betray mo, will
tell you how l began my career as an antelope
hunter. Up to this moment not living soul be- |
sides myself knows the true inwardness of that
exploit. and l wouldn't have the boys find it out
for the world So NUNS the word, now.
On our way to the buffalo country no
antelope until two days travel from Miles City,
which shows how fast they are being extermina
ted. When the first bunch was sighted of
course we were all eagerness to get some fresh
meat out of it. and it fell to me to take the shot
stalked the bunch very cleverly. must admit,
with the rear sight of my Winchester elevated
to 300 yards as being the supposed distance
from my chosen firing point to the herd. Well,
when finally looked over the brow of the hill
found was within 100 yards of my game. In
my eagerness to get pair of savory antelope
hams, as we'll as to let the men see that could
shoot, even though all hands were gaping at me,
| totally forgot the elevation ] had given my
sight. 1t was a beautiful chance for the ante
lope stood perfectly still and looked absorbediy
at the wagon away off to my right drew up
| carefully aimed for the finest buck and banged
| away suppose my bullet flew about foot
above his shoulders, possibly two and away
went our intended hams.
There was secret about that In all con-
science 1t was a palpable disgusting. humili
| ating failure, and all the boys saw it, 1t was in
| the retrieving Of my reputation that there hangs
a tale.
| We camped that night at the Red Buttes. the
| only water for fifteen miles around, and there
| fore q good place for antelope. AS pulled
out the next morning, and headed straight for
| the buttes, l saw the soldier who was riding in
| advance suddenly dismount from his mule and
beckon wildly for me to come Putting my
| horse at gallop l soon reached him, and then
| he told me there were two antelope on the other
| eli Ia 0f "a Int jnE orfr rio
| reputation than OF meat, quickly dismounted
| left my horse and stole up the steep rocky side
Of the butte private Moran indicated "No
| more nonsense with elevated sights now. if you
| please!' said to myself severely. To fail this
| time would be disaster
Preached the top and peered cautiously over the
| rocks toward the north, but saw no antelope
| Too bad. looked west; no antelope / looked
| east but-great guns! there they were in full
| view, standing on the level top of butte as high
| as mine, looking straight at me, and only q hun
| dred and fifty yards away One of them stood
| broadside Oh, offering beautiful mark, and in
| an instant my rife at my shoulder and
pointed at his Aiming for his heart region,
just behind his fore leg. l fred. Down he
| dropped upon the bare rock, right in his tracks.
with the traditional 'dull thud. just like sack
| of wheat
Good shot!' cried private Moran from below.
| Descending with the air of a conqueror. went
to my dead antelope which was a young buck,
and proceeded to eloat few gloats over him.
Now thinks /. 1--we done it. That was a neat
piece of work, and makes up for yes
1esdays affair aa Presently i it occurred edit, to
had gone squarely through the heart The
| beast had dropped very sudden to be shot
| through the heart. it seemed to me. There was
| no hullothole behind the fore leg at all Nor had
it struck the body anywhere-not even the neck.
| My bullet had struck the buck just one inch be-
hind the eye, and gone squarely through the
| brain! Oh degradation. 1t was clean miss
of two feet from what had tried to hit 1t ac
do fool thoc 70 i,,ly
| of it. If there had been any timber in that
| country | would have sneaked off and got
into it, out of sight.
In few minutes the wagons came up, and all
the boys fell to saying pleasant and compli-
| mentary things. to show that yesterdays score
was wiped out And some one said:
| THAT was dead shot, sure. Do you always
aim for the bran2"
"Well, no-that is. not exactly always. But
wanted to kill this fellow so dead he couldn't
kick"
The boys never once suspected me- and sat
down on a stone and felt as if I had stolen a
sheep.
1t is only fair to say that also killed the mate
to this antelope first shot. When the first
dropped, the other ran away for a little distance,
then came racing back to look for his comrade
fired at him and missed, but when he turned
and made off second time caught him with a
ball in the hip, as he ran Had it not been for
his foolish curiosity ne would not have como to
grief; but thanks to that. and my good luck, we
had fresh meat enough for three whole days
Were 1t not that the antelope are disappear
ing so fast. the pursuit of the pronghorn in Oc-
tober and November would be very fine sport
It's successful prosecution calls for adroitness in
stalking and skill in long range shooting under
very trying circumstances But where is
ea a1 bring Down pronghorn now w Ti0
out pang of regret, and the feeling
that he is helping to skill off, the speces9 Not
here. at all events. 1t is, alas, only too true
that the nimble- footed prairie rover whose
graceful form is even yet the gladdess sight that
meets the eye of the plainsman, is only q few
days behind the buffalo the road to exterm-
nation And how doubly desolate wi win those
bleak prairies seem without him. Take away
J from those vast solitudes the few antelope that
still enliven it little, and what desolation will
remain. The buffalo, elk and deer have already
as least). the antelope are being killed about
twice rs fast as they breed, and even the coyotes
are being slain wholesale by the strychune of
the ranchmen and COW -punchers.
As one rides mile after mile, and day after
day, over the shaven prairies, or traverses the
ups and downe of the butte country, the eye in
stnctively searches the landscape over and over.
seeing the same monotonous features of divide "
) and draw" and butte and ''coulie," and
flat covered with measly sage brush or stingy
buffalo grass until they all become positively
hateful to the sight And then how welcome is
the sight of herd of antelope. No matter how
: family seen or how far away, the vision follows
, them and dwells upon them, with mighty
sense OF relief. as long as they remain in sight.
: How closely their graceful movements are
watched, the number accurately counted if they
are near enough and everything else forgotten
Q just 40 long as they remain in sight. And how
9 much more effectualy is the monotony broken
4 when the solitary rider comes suddenly upon
large herd of fifteen or twenty irsir,a-. .--r
= ing IN ravlne, or on the further side of ,
y ridge he is riding over. The grand scampe,
which follows is always exciting, even to til,
g most experienced observer
! On the prairie divides where there are n,
/ buttes or deep coulies, and one must shoot from
J. the top of long slope, the hunter must expec
Z to do has shooting at from 200 yards upward. i
r ne cannot hit at that distance-adios! In tn,